


Just Don't Fall In Love With Me

by Heartithateyou



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Crushes, Cute, Drabble, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, No Feels, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, OTP Feels, One Off, One Shot, Post-Avengers (2012), Random & Short, Randomness, Secret Crush, Short & Sweet, Stony - Freeform, Superhusbands, Superhusbands (Marvel), Sweet, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, all fluff, otp, random drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 16:57:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11467773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heartithateyou/pseuds/Heartithateyou
Summary: Tony offers Steve a piece of advice.Steve really wishes he would have listened.





	Just Don't Fall In Love With Me

“You are so wrong its not even funny, I know you’ve been out of the loop for seventy years, but how do you think Star Wars is better than Star Trek?” Tony shouts from beneath a car.

Steve laughs as he takes another sip of coke, feeling his whole body relax. It was times like this that he cherished, just being able to laugh with a friend and enjoy their day off. 

“I’m sorry Tony, I’ve officially seen both of them and its Star Wars for me, no contest.” He says with a laugh.

Tony always took personal offense when someone disagreed with his pop culture opinions, no matter how ridiculous. They got into an hour long argue about Sharknado during the last movie night.

“Well what season of Star Trek did you start with? What episode? Because if it was a bad one the whole thing can be tainted. Did you let Clint pick because I will seriously make him an arrow that will go right up his-“ Tony rambles on before Steve cuts him off.

“JARVIS picked one for me, I thought you’d trust his taste.” He says innocently.

“Maybe his coding is off for that…” Tony murmurs., eliciting a chuckle from Steve.

“You know Stark, I like this whole being friends thing.” Steve says with a smile, glancing over at the genius who’s now rolling out from underneath the car, his eyes still fixated on some part he has in his hands.

Ever since their less than ideal meeting, they’d become close teammates and eventually friends. Sure they bickered more often than not, but now it was all good natured. Steve found himself spending more and more time with him.

“You’re not so bad yourself Rogers.” Tony says with a smirk as he turns to look at him.

“Aww you’re such a sweet talker.” He says with a laugh.

“Just don’t fall in love with me.” Tony says with an exaggerated wink.

“Trust me, that won’t be a problem.” He says with an eye roll.

Sometimes he wishes he could go back in time and laugh at how wrong he was.

 

“How are we trapped in a closet?” He asks as he leans against the wall in exasperation. He and Tony had stepped into the closet to grab some of the spare blankets for movie night when they got stuck in there.

“I don’t know, I swear I didn’t even shut the door the whole way.” Tony says as he twists the knob for the twentieth time, before banging on the door again.

“Honestly, how do they not hear that?” Steve asks, wondering if somehow the rest of the team were rendered deaf. 

I mean, at least Hawkeye had an excuse.

“Like we are literally twenty feet from the living room, they better have all been kidnapped or something.” Tony says as he leans down to take a closer look at the lock.

“Maybe this is one of Clint’s pranks?” He asks, trying to make any sense of this situation.

“Well if it is, it totally sucks.” Tony as he stands up.

“Not one of his best.” He says with a laugh, noticing how close Tony is when he stands up. The closet is way too small for the both of them and he can practically feel Tony’s breath on him.

“None of his pranks are.” Tony whispers.

“You’re just mad because they’re always geared towards you. Want me to just bang it down?” He asks with a giggle. The closet is starting to get warm with the two of them in it and it feels all too intimate.

“Oh yeah, you can bang it as much as you want.” Tony says with an eyebrow wiggle.

“You’re ridiculous.” He says as he begins to maneuver the two of them around.

“Yeah, but you like it.” Tony says with another smirk.

Suddenly there was a tightness in Steve’s chest, so quick it practically took his breath away.

Dammit. Tony was right about that.

He did like it. Tony’s ridiculousness, his smile, the way his shirts always rode up when he worked on his cars. 

He liked it all.

Because he liked Tony Stark.

He gulped down the lump in his throat and he turned away, glad that the closet was dark enough to his hid blush.

At least he wasn’t in love with the other man.

His future self was probably rolling his eyes and calling him an idiot under his breath.

 

“What, you don’t feel like dancing?” Tony asks as he sidles up to Steve at the fundraiser. They were raising money to repair some of the damage they had done (while they were saving New York, thank you very much) and Steve was awkwardly standing at the edge of the dance floor.

“I don’t see you cutting a rug out there.” Steve says with a small snort.

“Cutting a rug, gosh I love when you use some of that 1920’s lingo.” Tony says with a small smile, looking down at the ground. Steve loves that smile, the one that’s so private, so different than the one he normally slaps on at these events.

“It slipped.” Steve says, grinning back. Even though he knew nothing they were talking about was especially funny, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face. Something about being around Tony made him grin like a loon.

“So what do you say, want to show me some of those vintage moves out there?” Tony asks as he places his drink down on his tray. Steve is momentarily distracted by the way his body moves in the tuxedo, so perfectly fitted that you can’t help but wonder what he looks like beneath it.

“Uhhh, I don’t know if you want me as a partner. I’m not exactly what you’d call graceful.” He mutters out the excuse, aware that’s only half the reason he doesn’t want to dance with the other man. He honestly doesn’t know how he’d control the inevitable blush of having Tony that close to him and was sure the rest of the room would notice.

“Trust me, I have enough skill for the both of us.” Tony says with a dismissive wave before grabbing Steve’s hand and leading him onto the dance floor.

Before Steve can even realize what’s happening, Tony is putting his hands into position before grabbing his other hand as he starts to lead them.

“Just mirror what I do, just like we do during combat training.” Tony says as they begin to move around the floor.

“So dancing is like fighting?” Steve asks with a snort, trying to focus on his feet rather than the stares from everyone around them.

“Something like that. Except I get to lead this time.” Tony says with a small smile, careful not to make the steps too complicated.

“Well you’re going easy on me.” He says, secretly grateful. He’d seen Tony dance at a million of these and knew he could dance circles around him.

“What can I say, I’m good with first timers.” Tony says with an exaggerated wink that makes Steve laugh.

“Don’t say that too loudly, we wouldn’t want people getting the wrong idea.” Steve says with a laugh.

“Oh, of course not.” Tony says with a gentle smile on his face. Steve couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen Tony look so open, like he was just enjoying the moment and wasn’t waiting for something awful to happen.

All he wanted to do was to make Tony feel that was for the rest of his life.

Shit.

He stumbles slightly as the thought rams through his brain like a runaway train.

He was in love with Tony Stark.

“You okay there big guy?” Tony asks with a laugh, making his stumble seem like a step as he continues to lead.

No, no he was not. He just realized he was in love with his best friend, thank you very much, he was the opposite of okay.

“Great. Never been better.” He says, looking down once again at his feet.

Because honestly, who could have seen this coming?

 

“Oh no, this is a problem.” He says under his breath as he walks towards the bar later. Tony had disappeared to talk to some donors and he needed a minute away from the crowd to collect his thoughts.

“Your schoolboy crush on Stark? Maybe, but its also entertaining as shit.” Clint says as he suddenly appears at his side.

“You knew?” Steve whispers, glancing at Tony to make sure he can’t hear. He’s still halfway across the room, nodding politely at the people he was talking to.

“We all know.” Natasha says with a smirk as she pats his arm, appearing next to Clint.

“Oh no.” He says as he buries his face into his hands.

“Oh yes.” Bruce says as he smiles sympathetically as he walks by.

“Did you just figure it out?” Natasha asks as she gestures to the bartender.

“About five minutes ago.” He says glumly, wishing he could get so drunk he didn’t have to think about all of this.

“Ooh that’s a tough one man.” Sam says as he joins him on the other side.

“You knew? And you never said anything?” Steve asks desperately.

“Natasha told me not to, and she scares me a little bit.” Sam says with a shrug.

“We thought it would be better if you figured it out on your own.” Natasha said sympathetically.

“So what do I do?” He asks, burying his face in his hands.

“What do you do about what?” A voice asks, causing them all to turn. Tony had somehow wondered up and was standing there with a confused expression on his face.

They’re all awkwardly silent as everyone exchanges glances, Steve staring intently at the bar and hoping some latent superpower of disappearing kicks in.

“We should go…” Clint says awkwardly as he all but bolts, Natasha quickly follows. Sam gives him a look before he quickly darts away too.

“That was weird. And I mean even weirder than our standards.” Tony says with a perplexed look on his face.

“Can we go somewhere? Private?” Steve asks quietly. He isn’t sure what he’s going to say, but he’s sure he doesn’t want an audience.

“Sure, no problem.” Tony says, his expression still looking confused. He leads them out of the room into a series of hallways, before opening the door to an office. He follows Tony inside and closes the door quickly behind them.

“Okay, are you going to tell me what’s going on now? Because I’m starting to get a little worried…” Tony trails off, looking over his face for some sort of a clue.

“I just realized ten minutes ago that I was in love with you.” He blurts out. 

Shit.

That was not even close to what he wanted to say, much less how he wanted to say it. 

And judging by Tony’s face, he was not expecting that either.

“I’m sorry, that was not how I wanted that to come out and I know I should have said that better, but I don’t know what you’re supposed to do when you realize you’re in love with your best friend. Your best friend who is amazing and brilliant and enigmatic-“ He rambles before Tony cuts him off.

“I told you not to fall in love with me.” Tony blurts out suddenly.

Steve feels his heart stop for a moment and his hands grow clammy. He can practically play back the conversation they had a couple months back, he never thought that joke would turn out to be so serious.

“I know. I know you did Tony. But I couldn’t help it.” He says helplessly. He didn’t even realize he was falling in love with the other man, how was he supposed to stop it?

“Steve… You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t have fallen in love with me.” Tony says, his face growing steely.

“Tony-“ He starts before Tony cuts him off again.

“I am a bad bet Steve!” He shouts, his voice cracking, “I am reckless and careless and terrible at relationships! Look at me and Pepper, we knew each other for years and I drove her away! You think I want that to happen with you? For you to realize I’m not worth and to leave to? I can’t lost someone else Steve!”

Tony tries to charge out of the room but Steve grabs him by the wrist at the last second.

“Tony!” He shouts desperately.

“Let go of me!” Tony shouts back.

“Not until you listen to what I have to say.” Steve says. He lets go of Tony’s arm, and although he looks like he wants to bolt, he stays.

“I am not Pepper. I am not anyone you’ve dated before. I don’t… I don’t even know how to do this. To date. To be with someone. Any of this. I feel so scared and broken so much of the time, but I want to try this. With you. And I know you’re not perfect Tony, and neither am I. But I love you. The amazing parts, the parts that drive me crazy, and everything else inbetween. And if you don’t like me or feel that way about me, that’s fine. But I don’t want you to run away from this because you’re scared. Because I am petrified right now, but I think what we could have is worth it. It’d be worth anything.” He says, feeling tears well up in his own eyes as he speaks.

Because so much of the time, he pretended like he was fine and everything was all right. But now he was finally being honest and it was terrifying and exhilarating. And Tony was the one who made him feel brave enough to do this.

“I don’t want to wait around until you realize that I’m not enough.” Tony says softly, tears forming in his eyes.

“Tony… You are more than enough. You are everything.” He says as he rushes towards the other man, grabbing his face and kissing him deeply, feeling tears on both of their cheeks. He crashes into him with desperation, trying to convey everything he can’t say.

“Please, please…” He whispers, unsure what else to say. He doesn’t know if his words will be enough to convince Tony, but every inch of his body wants this.

“Okay.” Tony says back softly.

“Okay?”

“Okay. Steve I can’t promise you that this will work out or that we won’t crash and burn… but I can promise I’ll try.” Tony whispers, looking up at him. 

“And I’ll try too.” Steve says softly as he kisses him between every word.

“And I think… I think I love you too.” Tony says back nervously with his voice breaking softly.

“I love you Tony.” He says as he pulls the other man in closer to kiss him again.

Suddenly there’s a knock on the door, which they both turn to look at.

“Guys, not to interrupt or anything, but that’s Fury’s office and he’s on a war path, so stop your banging!” Clint yells through the door, both of them dissolving into laughter.

“Clint, what the hell are you doing outside of my office-“

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!
> 
> Feel free to leave comments!


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